Lush, the hand-made organic bath and body products shop, is really taking the world by storm. While Lush has been around for years, heightened consumer awareness may be due to its constant innovation. One of the company's more creative and original ideas is called the "bath bomb." Bath bombs are larger than similarly-shaped bath oil capsules that you may be more familiar with, and Lush takes pride in having as many ingredients be organic as possible.
Made to fit comfortably in a cupped hand, bath bombs typically start with a busy bubbling that eventually calm down to a soothing fizz, as the bomb slowly dissolves in your bath. All ballistics have bath oils, some have bath salts. Some also contain non-water soluble ingredients, the most common being very fine glitter. It is difficult to judge a bath bomb by in-store scent alone, as often the layers within bath bombs contain different potencies of different scents. Because of the organic nature of the ingredients, Lush suggests freshness or "use by" dates. It's hard to imagine a bath bomb sitting in a medicine cabinet for long, however! Take it from an addict: Once hooked, it's hard to resist using bath bombs within a week of purchase.
Here is a list of bath bombs sampled by this eager reviewer:
- Butterball bath bomb: This was the first bath bomb I tried, and it took perhaps 5 minutes to completely dissolve in a warm bath. Little bits of softening cocoa butter within the bomb take their time dissolving after the bulk of the bomb has dissipated. The subtle scent lingers on skin for hours after the bath.
- Waving Not Drowning: This lavender-scented bath bomb smelled too strong in the store, but the Lush salesclerk assured me that the potency would be reduced upon use. She was right; the lavender was more subtle than not, and I almost fell asleep in the bath.
- Karma bath bomb: The salesclerk told me that Lush is discontinuing this bath bomb, but it should be available online for a while. It consists of Lush's signature Karma scent, which I love as soap in my morning shower, but since I only take baths to relax in the evening, the orangey, citrus odor is counterproductive. However, anyone who partakes of wake-up baths may appreciate this orange-slice shaped bath bomb.
- Big Blue: This is one of the ballistics that contain permanent solids. Big Blue has little bits of seaweed in it, which can be annoying to clean up. The company recommends that bath bombs of this type be dropped into a nylon wrap, to assure ease of clean-up. Big Blue turned my water a gorgeous, deep blue color which drained clean, fortunately, and I've used it twice. The sea salts and seaweed combine to truly lend a vicarious beach-going experience to the user.
- Black Pearl: Unabashedly named for the Pirates of the Caribbean ship, this ballistic turns bath water grey, with a small amount of fine silver glitter. The glitter rinsed easily from my bathtub, yet stayed on my skin. I recommend the Black Pearl for morning baths, or before a night out on the town. Why waste all that glitter on your sheets? The smell is both floral and salty, not too feminine at all...and there is a "treasure" at the center of each of these bath bombs! Two points for whoever can identify the secret in the center of the Black Pearl first.
- Tisty Tosty: Okay, I have to admit I was disappointed in this heart-shaped bath bomb. There are a bunch of dried rosebuds embedded within it, and watching them fall apart in the water didn't really add to my bath experience. I still am unclear as to why - with so many natural ingredients - the rose scent seemed artificial and fleeting.
- Sex Bomb: This big ballistic is my current favorite, the salts and oils really have great skin-softening capabilities, and the scent - wow! Musky, sagey, and floral, the Sex Bomb smells great and turned my bath water opaque hot pink. There is a little rice paper flower in this bomb that went right down the drain. No fuss, no muss, and it's a good thing too; after a soak in a Sex Bomb bath, you want to enjoy the scent of your skin in ways that don't involve cleaning out your bathtub.
- Avobath: This ballistic turned my bath avocado-green, and has glitter. Fresh avocado is a main ingredient of this ballistic, along with lemongrass and olive oils. My skin felt very soft afterwards, and the scent did not linger. I wasn't too crazy about this one, franky.
And there you have it! There are many other bath bombs made by Lush, some of which are seasonal. Obviously, I haven't tried them all - but we all need goals, don't we? If you have a bath bomb experience you'd like to add to this list, please feel free to join in the related discussion.
Related, on Suite 101:
Happy Hippy Lush Liquid Hair and Shower Gel
Copyright 2006 Jennifer Miner and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.
Jennifer W. Miner - Jennifer has years of travel writing experience, spoken at several national conferences, and more. See Jendeavor.com for more details.
